Temple Slave
by Kazuki Landen
Summary: *On hiatus* Set in ancient Egypt. Yami bursts into Bastet's temple. Yugi is the slave on duty. What happens when Yami faints and the guards catch Yugi with the unconscious Pharaoh?
1. First meeting

Disclaimer – I am not being paid for this, nor am I going to make any money out of it. I do not own the characters, except for the original ones. They're mine. You can't have any.

Flashback

"Speaking"

/Thinking/

Enjoy!

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"Remus, stop pestering, your food's over there." The boy smiled slightly. He had to be the luckiest slave in the whole of Egypt, getting to tend to the cats at Bastets' temple. Actually, he had probably the second best job in the whole of Egypt, at least in his view.) The best job was to be one of the Pharaoh's personal slaves. Then they would get to see the mighty Pharaoh Yugioh every day! The boy had never seen his leader, never even caught a glimpse of him through the cheering crowds that always followed the royal carriage.

He shook his head, clearing the thoughts and focused his attention back on the four adult cats and the eleven kittens that were milling round his pale ankles. "You can't have eaten all your food already!" The remark was accompanied with a laugh, as it usually was. The ritual was so familiar to all the cats that they set up a chorus of meowing, and set the boy laughing again. "All right, all right, I'll get you some more. That is, if Afra moves out the way…?" The cat obediently moved to one side, and the child walked confidently through the throng.

So focused was he on not treading on the cats that the single pair of footsteps went unnoticed, as did the quiet click of the door as it was shut, and the harsh, quick breathing that followed both.

What did catch his attention was the clatter of the armour and footsteps that belonged to the palace guards. He jumped, and whipped his head round to stare at the cloaked figure bent double round the other side of the altar.

"Who are you? Why were you running from the guards? What did you do?" The barrage of questions was fired so quickly that the figure didn't have time to identify where it came from.

The boy stepped out from behind the altar. "Sorry. Don't you speak 'gyptian?"

"No, I speak Egyptian fine." The deep voice startled the boy-child, as the figure could be barely two years older than him. "My name is…Yami. You are…?"

"Me? Oh, I'm Yugi. What did you do?" Yugi repeated the question. You didn't want to be caught with a thief, or a criminal of any kind."

"I escaped from the palace."

Yugi started – this boy _was_ a criminal! "I should call the guards back"

"No! Please! Don't!" The taller boy went pale. "I'll be in such trouble!"

"Tell me why I shouldn't." Now Yugi was on safe grounds. 'Yami' was a thief, and even slaves were higher ranking than thieves!

"Because…" The boy faltered. His whole body twitched, and he cried out in pain. Yugi jumped forwards and caught him as the other boy started to fall to the ground. He leant Yami's torso over his shoulders, bending his knees to take the weight.

"What's wrong?" Yugi was concerned. Even though Yami had told him he was a criminal, he was still human!

The boy didn't speak for a few moments, then continued his earlier answer "You shouldn't because I'm-"

A squad of guards burst through the doors, and immediately trained their spears on the two boys standing by the altar. The leader shouted, "What have you done to the pharaoh? Step away from him!"

Yugi was only too happy to oblige. Pharaoh? And he had looked the boy in the eyes, and spoken to him, and touched him, and hadn't bowed, and… "Oh Bastet, please help me!" he whispered in a fervid prayer. He fell to his knees, and dropped his forehead to the ground in the sign of complete subservience.

The second in command walked over to the kneeling boy as the chief officer lifted the pharaoh in his arms. "How dare you harm the pharaoh? For your insolence you shall die!" He lifted his spear over his head, to bring the end of it crashing down on Yugi's neck, when a faint voice came from the other guards.

"No! Please, Sangath, don't!" The pharaoh spoke in a whisper. Sangath was obviously unused to having the pharaoh plead with him, and hesitated for a second, but he still didn't obey the boy. In criminal matters, the guards were in charge.

By now, Yugi was trembling violently, utterly confused by what was happening. He tried to suppress a tear, but it fell anyway, staining his beautiful ivory coloured skin. "Bastet, please goddess, help me…" more tears fell as he whispered the words. He felt a furry presence touch his arm, and turned his tear-blurred eyes to his favourite cat in Bastet's Temple, Damia. His best friend, his confidante. She climbed up his back carefully, then curled up on the soft bare skin round his neck.

The guard stopped the descent of his spear, annoyed. He couldn't kill a cat, not for any reason. That would be punishable with his own death. He lifted his spear again; to hit the boy in the back, but found that place, too, covered in a furry cat body.

Yugi's tears increased in relief – his cat friends were protecting him! Damia on his neck, Afra and Remus on his back, Lariane and three of the kittens around his legs. The remaining kittens were curled up round various other parts of his body; all the cats were calm, and that helped Yugi calm down as well.

"Thank you Bastet, great goddess, thank you," Yugi whispered, incredulous that his life had been saved.

The guard stepped back, scowling. "Very well. Bastet has decided you shall live for today."

Yugi sighed in relief, still prostrate, then as the day's shocks caught up with his mind his eyes shut and his body sagged to lie flat on the ground, in a dead faint.

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How was that? I have writer's block and wanted to end the chapter really quickly. Oh well. Never mind. I don't actually know what's going to happen, but hey, that's what improvisation is for!

Catch ya next time, chaps and chapesses!

Kazuki!


	2. Experimenting

Sorry I forgot about this fic for a while. Well, a long while. I kept meaning to update it, but… yeah. Very sorry, and thank you for all the reviews. I hope you don't all hate me for taking so long…

Disclaimer, see last chapter.

Enjoy!

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The boy opened his eyes on a world of pain. "The lights! Turn out the lights!" he cried, the brightness of the burning oil too much for his eyes, which were used to the darkness of sleep.

Obediently, the lights faded and died, and he opened his eyes on near-darkness. "Thank you. Did I …did I have another attack?"

"Yes, my pharaoh. It was caused, this time."

"Who by?"

"The slave at Bastet's temple. The boy-child. Surely you remember?"

"Now you remind me… I do, yes. Yugi, I think. Did you kill him?" The pharaoh sat up in his silken bed, searching the darkened room for the man who was speaking.

"No, pharaoh. On your orders, we stopped. Bastet also intervened." The kneeling guard slid slowly into focus as the boy's eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"Where is he? That boy was as full of light magic as I've ever seen anyone. Fetch him. Now."

Sangath bowed and left. Sighing, the boy-pharaoh lay down. He was exhausted. Those attacks always took it out of him. His physicians told him it was the effect of the overload of shadow magic on his body, but he suspected different. He suspected poison.

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A few minutes later-

The slave boy entered in bare feet, and a light cotton toga embroidered with the cat symbol worn by Bastet's priests and slaves. The toga was adorned with dust, sand, and cat hair, but there were no food stains. His ivory skin was just as tidy. He obviously took pains to keep himself clean.

Yugi knelt, casting his eyes to the floor in subservience, unknowing as to why he had been summoned from the dungeons where he had spent the last night. "My pharaoh, I am truly sorry for the offence I caused you yesterday. I wait for your judgement on how I shall be punished."

The pharaoh gave no judgement, only said to Sangath, who had entered behind the slave-boy, "Leave. I wish to speak with him alone."

"My pharaoh, he already tried to kill you once…" He trailed off as the older boy glared at him. From eyes of ruby wine, glares like that were truly impressive.

"I said leave." The words were not shouted, rather, they were almost whispered, but in such a menacing tone that Sangath backed out of the room without protest.

"Come here. I wish to speak with you." The boy shuffled closer on his knees. "Not like that. Stand up, and look me in my eyes."

Yugi shivered. The pharaoh had almost got him killed once, and he really, as in _really_, really, didn't want to look into his eyes.

However, he couldn't disobey a direct order. Slowly he rose off his knees, and tilted his head upwards, then looked the pharaoh straight in the eyes.

"That's better. Now, you were accused of harming me, yesterday, in Bastet's temple. You did not harm me, I know that for a fact." While the pharaoh was saying this, he climbed out of bed, and walked round Yugi, inspecting him.

"I called you here not to punish you, but to ask you something. I believe you have a gift, the gift of light magic. It happens to one in thousands, and I may be mistaken. I don't think that I am, though. When I touch you, I feel a tingling, as the shadow magic in my body mixes with the light magic in your body."

"To prove my suspicions, I want you to tell me something. Look at my body."

Yugi did so, then flushed a bright red when he realised that the pharaoh was entirely naked. "What's wrong? There shouldn't be…" then he realised the absence of clothes on his body. "No matter. It makes no difference. In my veins, you should be able to see my blood, red and blue. However, you, if you do have light magic, should see another colour. What is it?"

The pharaoh stepped back, and let Yugi have a clear view of him. The slave boy squinted. "I see… black, master."

"Very good. Now," He held up a hand, fingers curled around an imaginary ball. "You see my hand?" Yugi nodded, "I will create a ball of shadow magic. You will tell me if that is the colour in my veins."

The shadow magic formed quickly, and Yugi flinched back from it. "My pharaoh, most of your blood is that colour."

"Most?" The older boy questioned, raising his eyebrows regally.

"Some is a deeper black, like the velvet my mother wore…" A tear slipped down his cheek, leaving a droplet of sparkling salt water on the end of his delicate lashes.

"Your mother wore velvet? Then she must have been rich. How did you end up a slave, if your family didn't sell you?" The pharaoh was intrigued by the tale. He had always thought that to be a slave would be wonderful. Free of the palace, free of responsibilities…

"They did sell me. My mother couldn't keep me, if she wanted to be rich. I was just another child, eating her food, spending her money… She sold me to the slave traders. They sold me to the temple people. I had never liked being rich, and I had seen cats, and now I have been allowed to touch them, fuss them… I love it."

"Until I got whipped. That was a week in to my slave work. After that it came every two days. The cats help me, take my mind off the pain." Yugi realised he was still talking to the pharaoh, the ruler of all Egypt. "I'm sorry for going on, master…"

"No, no, that's alright. You confirmed my suspicions when you told me my blood had a darker black. That black is poison. I think it comes through my food, but I have no food tester at the moment. They all die within a day of arriving. I think it must be because their bodies are not used to the poison. I can cope with it because I was brought up eating it, to build up my own resistance."

"As a child of a rich family, you would be adjusted to poison, I think." Yugi nodded, "Well then. I appoint you as my food tester. That way, if any poison gets past your light magic sight, you will be able to resist its effect."

"Yes pharaoh. May I go?" Yugi was anxious to leave the powerful boy's presence.

"No. I want you to stay here for a few days. I need to train you in your magic. I would send you to the high priest, but I have a feeling that he is responsible for my poisoning. We start the lessons now."

"As you have light magic, you will probably be better at healing than weapons. I'll start you on that first. Before that, however, you need to know what to call me. I can't have you calling me 'my pharaoh' and 'master'. It's too longwinded. I told you in the temple that my name was Yami. It is. That's my real name. And that's what I want you to call me. And I don't want you bowing to me, at least not when we're in private. Got it?"

Yugi mumbled something that sounded like a yes.

Yami took a long knife from the table by the side of his bed. "I want you to heal this. Don't try to force your magic. It's a lot easier to use when you aren't concentrating as much." He placed the knife against his arm, and as Yugi watched in terrified silence, braced himself, then carefully broke the skin.

Yugi yelped quietly as the blood trickled out, his eyes going wide at the crimson, and he stepped back. "Come here," Yami commanded, "rest your hands either side of it."

Slowly, Yugi did as he was told, staring at the blood that now flowed over his own hands, bright as ruby. "Imagine it healing, the blood stopping, the skin joining together…" Yami fell silent, amazed at Yugi's skill. He was almost as good as Mariah, who had tended to him many times when he was younger, and he hadn't even been trained yet.

As the final drop of blood fell from his arm, Yami smiled. "Well done, Yugi"

Yugi swayed, and with a sigh, he fell straight into Yami's arms. "Oh, yes. I forgot about that. Damn. Sangath! Can I have a hand here?"

Sangath rushed into the room, saw the blood on the floor, and blanched. "My pharaoh, I am sorry for not protecting you. I shall take him to the dungeon immediately!" He moved forwards, to take Yugi's unconscious body from the arms of the other boy, but the Pharaoh stepped back.

"He didn't harm me, I did it myself, to test something. I want you to take him down to Jounouchi, tell him that he used too much magic for his body to cope with, and that he'll will get immediate attention or Jounouchi will suffer." He held out Yugi's body, and Sangath took him, carefully, almost as if he was afraid that the boy would break if he were handled too roughly.

"Yes master, at once." Sangath bowed – not easy with an unconscious body in his arms – and backed out of the room, leaving the pharaoh to dress.

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The infirmary-

Jounouchi smiled at his patient. "There you go, Alai. That didn't hurt much, did it?" The young boy shook his head, wide eyed. "You go and play with Lee, but no more fighting, alright?" Alai nodded mutely. "Go on, it looks like I've got a new patient. Bye!"

Alai grinned. "Bye, Jou!" He waved, and slipped out the door, dodging the guard as he went.

"Sangath. What is wrong with the child?"

"The pharaoh. He's been experimenting again."

"Oh, dear. I hope he isn't planning to set this one as a new tester. He doesn't look strong enough. Not that he'd disagree about the food, I'm sure."

While Jounouchi was talking, he was settling Yugi on the bed, checking his pulse and heart rate. "He looks undernourished. Who did he belong to?"

"He was a slave, in Bastet's temple."

"Ah. A slave. That explains it."

"Is he going to survive? The pharaoh would be very displeased if he were to die."

"He won't die, Sangath. You have my word. He's only weak, from whatever experiment the pharaoh conducted. An day or so of rest should have him back on his feet."

"Good. I'll tell the pharaoh. He may be down later, to check on the child."

"What is his name? I can't keep calling him child."

"I don't know. The pharaoh may. Perhaps you could ask him when he arrives."

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Stay tuned, folks!


	3. Friends

I am so, so sorry for not updating… real life is far too busy at the moment, what with exams and just simple school work, and other things. So, I'm really sorry, and I hope you guys who've been following this little tale won't flame me for not updating.

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Later-

Yugi blinked slowly, and a blonde head came into view. Warm brown eyes stared into his own. "Hello. Are you feeling better now?"

"A little."

"I have something you have to drink. It'll make you feel much better." The face disappeared and Yugi sat up slowly. A moment later, the young man returned, clutching a pitcher with a strange liquid inside. "It may taste a bit odd, but it'll sort you out."

He handed it to Yugi, who stared at the unappetising liquid. "All of it?"

"Yes. Faster is better, then you don't taste it as much."

Yugi took a deep breath, then gulped it down. Once he had finished it, Jou took the pitcher off him before he started choking. "Well done. I know it doesn't taste too good, but that's only the herbs. They're very good, very potent. I grow them myself."

"Oh." Yugi coughed, then looked up. "I hope it does make me feel better. It's awful."

"But if I'd told you that, you never would have drank it." An infectious grin made Yugi smile. "How are you feeling now?"

Yugi thought for a moment. "Better. Thank you." He slid off the cot and onto the floor, his knees shaking slightly, his hands tight on the edge of the bed.

"I wasn't told your name."

"It's Yugi."

"Well, Yugi, I'm Jounouchi. Jou, if you like. I'm the palace physician – I take care of people when they're hurt or sick. Which means that if you're not well, I'm the boss, ok?" The young boy nodded silently. "Ok. You fainted, which means that your body decided it wanted to sleep even if you didn't want it to. From what I was told, you used too much of your energy healing the Pharoah, and your body needed to rest. It's still not quite rested enough yet, even with that nasty stuff I had you drink, so you're not to do anything stressful for he next couple of days, alright?"

"Ok." Yugi looked around him, noticing the large open spaces in the walls, where he could see outside. Peering out, he didn't recognise the small courtyard outside. "What should I be doing?"

"Someone will be here in a while, and they'll take you to where you should be. Until then, you can sleep in there." He pointed to a small doorway, through which could be seen a pile of sheets. "The rest will be good for you."

"But I just slept! I should be working, or with the Pharoah, or–"

Yugi went cross eyed as a delicate hand shook a finger in front of his face. "What did I say? I'm the boss with this stuff, yes?" Another of those large grins took the sting from his words.

"Yes, Jou."

"Good. Now, go rest."

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Some time later, when the sun was sinking low in the sky, Yugi awoke to the sound of familiar voices. He peered through the doorway, and, seeing the pharaoh deep in conversation with Jounouchi, knelt down and lowered his head to the floor.

Unseen to him, Jou alerted Yami to Yugi's presence. The pharaoh sighed, irritated, and strode over to the prostrate boy. "Stand up, Yugi." He scrambled to his feet, still looking at the floor. "Didn't I say not to do that?"

"Sorry, pharaoh." Yugi looked up at him. "I thought…"

"When we are with Jou, you may act as though we are alone. He is… a friend." Warm glances were exchanged between the two young men.

That wasn't what Yugi had meant – he had merely believed that the order he had been given before had been forgotten, or rescinded. As it was, he slowly rose to his feet, and nodded. "What am I to be doing?"

"We will be returning to my chambers. There is a sleeping place for you there. You may remain there until Jounouchi decides that you are well enough to accompany me in my duties. While I am away, Jounouchi will visit you regularly, but you are to remain in my chambers. They are large, and you will not lack for activities."

Large violet eyes blinked up at him, and Yami felt a surge of brotherly affection for the younger boy. "You won't be lonely, Yugi. I have arranged for one of Bastet's kittens to be brought to our chambers. She will keep you company while Jounouchi is not present."

Yugi was speechless. One of Bastet's cats, leaving her temple just so he would not be lonely? And that the Pharaoh himself should be so concerned with his welfare… It defied belief. He finally managed to stutter out a thank you, as Jounouchi gave him a reassuring grin from behind Yami's back.

Yami turned, and inclined his head at Jounouchi, who gave a wry smile and nodded back. "Until later, then, Pharaoh?"

The young man smiled, all traces of royalty vanishing in the sparkle of his eyes and the slight pink in his cheeks. "Until later, Jou."

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It was short, I know… but I'm developing the plot a bit. Honest. I'm trying to update some things, but life is chaos. Seriously. I'll try and update this a.s.a.p. Hopefully, that'll mean it won't be a ridiculously long time. Thanks to everyone who's been so great about all of this.


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